In talking about Christmas around the world, we ought not to forget our own country. We were very lucky this year to be able to tour the White House at Christmas. As a history lover, the White House at Christmas is one of my favorite things. Historically appropriate Christmas decorations are placed beside famous presidential portraits. It all has a very 19th century Christmas feel to it. 

As every HGTV viewer knows, the White House Christmas decorations are beautiful. I envisioned getting a beautiful picture of all three girls among these decorations to place on our Christmas card. Sadly, the girls did not have this same vision. Only Clare happily posed for me. Neither Meg nor Anne wanted to have their picture taken and certainly were not cooperative for group pictures. Still, I captured some lovely memories. 

The room I most wanted to live in was the Library. I could pull out some of my Christmas mystery books and read here for days--preferably with some mulled cider at my side. 

Our favorite room for Christmas decorations was the red room. The room is given a candy land, peppermint theme, which goes beautifully with the standard decor of the room. Even Anne, who was particularly grumpy that day, had to smile when she reached this room.

My favorite decorations were those with a historic feel. Beautiful wooden cutouts graced the windows in one parlor, while silhouettes were placed on a small table.  

Even without that perfect Christmas Card picture, I am so happy the girls were able to experience the White House at Christmas. 

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​For many years I have wanted to seriously celebrate St. Lucy Day. I love the videos of Swedish children processing while singing Santa Lucia led by a girl wearing a wreath of candles on her head. We have celebrated this day with things like cinnamon rolls in the past. This year I finally made St. Lucy Day Swedish Saffron Buns. 

The name Lucy means light. In certain countries during this time of year, there is very little light and Sweden is one of those countries. According to Evelyn Virge Bitz's A Continual Feast, Sweden's darkness during this time of year is why it celebrates a saint who symbolizes light. Saffron is used in foods celebrating St. Lucy Day because it makes the pastries yellow--symbolizing light. 

​Talking about darkness, I woke up at 5 a.m. to make these buns. I followed the fantastic directions provided by Catholic Icing. I was lucky to have saffron on hand because it can be difficult to find. I ordered it ages ago for a science and art project in which we made paint in the way renaissance painters would have made their paint. To color the buns with saffron, one simply crushes the saffron and soaks it in hot water. It turns the water yellow and this yellow water is then added to the dough. 

As demonstrated on the Catholic Icing page, I shaped the buns into a backward "s" shape. Because raisins are not universally popular in our house, I topped the buns with red decorating sugar. By the time the dough had risen, been shaped, risen again and baked, it was time for the girls to get up for school. As the oldest child, Meg had the honor of serving her sisters the buns in bed. I made her a makeshift crown of tissue paper and candles made from construction paper. The buns were incredibly tasty. 

To keep our Swedish theme going, I made Swedish meatballs for dinner. I followed this very simple recipe from Betty Crocker and it was quite the hit with the family. I will definitely be making Swedish meatball periodically through the winter. It is rare to find a recipe that everyone enjoys. 

If you haven't watched a Santa Lucia procession, please watch the video below. It is beautiful.​

During this Advent season, my girls and I have studied Christmas traditions from around the world. I've always loved exploring various traditions and foods at Christmas. I still fondly remember learning about a buche de noel in French class (which I still aspire to make one year). In German class, I was touched by the story of West Berliners placing candles in their windows that faced East Berlin (when the Berlin Wall was still in place) to spread Christmas love to their fellow man. I regularly watch Rick Steves' European Christmas special. Simply put, I love this stuff. 

This year I found a curriculum from teacherspayteachers.com for a study of Christmas around the world. Clare and I have had a blast going through each country. Meg and Anne have followed along a bit reluctantly. To be fair, Meg loves geography and social studies and usually adds some fantastic insight to our discussions. She, however, also has about fifteen things she wants to do at any given moment and can be torn in her dedication to a single project. 

Rather than going straight through the curriculum (which organizes the chosen countries in alphabetical order), we have selected countries as they correspond with feast days during Advent. For example, we talked about Germany for St. Nicholas Day, because Germany has a long tradition of celebrating St. Nicholas Day. We talked about Mexico for Our Lady of Guadalupe Day. At times, we would discuss countries for convenience sake. On the day of Clare's piano recital, which was late in the day and prevented me from making dinner, we talked about Japan. Why? Because Kentucky Fried Chicken is a popular Christmas Dinner choice in Japan due to a successful marketing campaign in the 1970s. We picked up KFC on our way home from the recital and completed our worksheets while eating our chicken. 

At times, we were aided by events in our area. For example, the Saint John Paul II National Shrine hosted a fantastic Saint Nicholas Day event. Children could meet Saint Nicholas dressed in his Bishop garb. There were numerous craft stations that included making a paper advent wreath or a miter (a bishop's hat). Inspired by the story of St. Nicholas, children could toss bags of coins down makeshift chimneys in a unique take on a bean bag toss. The entire event was fantastic. At home we followed this event up by making German Potato Dumplings with roast beef as well as German Springerle cookies with St. NIcholas stamps on them. 

In my next post, I will talk about our Santa Lucia Day activities, which were also great fun.